Adopting and Raising the Male Lead and the Villain

by Usui Takumii

not mine, new novel . org

6. 101 to 120

Chapter 101 – Camping Trip (2)

Why was there always someone who wanted to get close to Zhong Yuhuan?

They just got rid of Joseph, and now came a Maria.

Even though Maria is a girl, she still made them feel like a thorn on their side.

Zhong Yuhuan turned and said, "Okay then. Thank you, Chengming-gege and Jinyuan."

Her voice was milky, and when her lips were slightly pouted, even her eyes seemed to be glistening. She was much more attractive than the lake behind her. All of a sudden, the thorn behind the two young men was gone.

Huo Chengming nodded and said in a low voice, "Don't get cold. Zip up the jacket."

As he was speaking, he removed his scarf and handed it over to Zhong Yuhuan.

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Zhong Yuhuan didn't turn it down. She took it from him and wrapped it around her neck.

Currently, she has on a light-colored pair of jeans, a baseball jacket, and a light grey scarf around her neck. She looked nothing like a little princess that she was anymore.

A Boy's jacket was always large and wide but being wrapped in one made her look more petite than she was.

Maria stared at Zhong Yuhuan and couldn't help but praise, "Are all Chinese girls cute and pretty like you? So petite that I just wants to hold you in my hand!"

Zhong Yuhuan didn't feel much when she listened to Li Jinyuan reading out the Christmas card, but now that she was listening to Maria's words directly, she felt a little awkward.

"I am not that special, really." Zhong Yuhuan lied immediately.

Maria asked dubiously, "Really? But I have seen other 11th grade Chinese girls, they don't look like you…."

"That's just individual differences was all."

Maria nodded. Still with some doubts, she said, "Heloise, when are you going back to China? Can I go with you? I want to go and meet more Chinese girls."

Zhong Yuhuan agreed. It would be many years before she went back anyway.

Perhaps, she had jinxed herself.

As soon as they were talking about her return to China, Zhong Yuhuan's cellphone rang. She fished it out and saw that the call was from Lang Jinzhi.

Zhong Yuhuan picked it up with some doubts in mind, "Hello?"

"School is out?" It was Lang Jinzhi's dry and matter-of-fact voice coming from the other end.

"Mmm. It's been out for a few days already. I am camping with a few fellow schoolmates as we speak," Zhong Yuhuan said in a low voice.

"I'll let Secretary Cheng speak to you."

"Eh?" Zhong Yuhuan paused for a second before she responded, "Sure."

The phone exchanged hands, and the brief silence was quickly followed by Secretary Cheng's voice from the other end, "Hi, Miss Zhong. How have you been?"

"I am fine. Thank you for asking, Secretary Cheng."

Secretary Cheng cut to the chase after the simple exchange of pleasantries. "There is something that I will need to inform Miss Zhong."

"Yeah? Go ahead."

"Something happened at the Zhong's recently. Nothing too serious though. Ms. Xu's son had a fight in school and caused some publicity. It so happened that the Nan's was throwing a banquet the very next day. The Zhong's attended the banquet, and there was a female actress that didn't know who Ms. Xu was. She flirted with Mr. Zhong right in front of her. Ms. Xu didn't cause a scene at the time so that page was turned over. But a few days later, the actress ran into some issues. Her resources were taken away from her, so she turned to Mr. Zhong for help." Secretary Cheng paused for a second before he continued, "That was pretty much it."

He didn't need to go into too much detail. All she needed to know was that the pressure has been on for Xu Yunhui and that Ms. Xu and her daughter would not be able to overlook it.

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "Okay, Secretary Cheng, I got it. Thank you."

Secretary Cheng responded in a low voice, "No problem, Miss Zhong. You should thank Mr. Lang."

Chapter 101 – Camping Trip (2)

Why was there always someone who wanted to get close to Zhong Yuhuan?

They just got rid of Joseph, and now came a Maria.

Even though Maria is a girl, she still made them feel like a thorn on their side.

Zhong Yuhuan turned and said, "Okay then. Thank you, Chengming-gege and Jinyuan."

Her voice was milky, and when her lips were slightly pouted, even her eyes seemed to be glistening. She was much more attractive than the lake behind her. All of a sudden, the thorn behind the two young men was gone.

Huo Chengming nodded and said in a low voice, "Don't get cold. Zip up the jacket."

As he was speaking, he removed his scarf and handed it over to Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't turn it down. She took it from him and wrapped it around her neck.

Currently, she has on a light-colored pair of jeans, a baseball jacket, and a light grey scarf around her neck. She looked nothing like a little princess that she was anymore.

A Boy's jacket was always large and wide but being wrapped in one made her look more petite than she was.

Maria stared at Zhong Yuhuan and couldn't help but praise, "Are all Chinese girls cute and pretty like you? So petite that I just wants to hold you in my hand!"

Zhong Yuhuan didn't feel much when she listened to Li Jinyuan reading out the Christmas card, but now that she was listening to Maria's words directly, she felt a little awkward.

"I am not that special, really." Zhong Yuhuan lied immediately.

Maria asked dubiously, "Really? But I have seen other 11th grade Chinese girls, they don't look like you…."

"That's just individual differences was all."

Maria nodded. Still with some doubts, she said, "Heloise, when are you going back to China? Can I go with you? I want to go and meet more Chinese girls."

Zhong Yuhuan agreed. It would be many years before she went back anyway.

Perhaps, she had jinxed herself.

As soon as they were talking about her return to China, Zhong Yuhuan's cellphone rang. She fished it out and saw that the call was from Lang Jinzhi.

Zhong Yuhuan picked it up with some doubts in mind, "Hello?"

"School is out?" It was Lang Jinzhi's dry and matter-of-fact voice coming from the other end.

"Mmm. It's been out for a few days already. I am camping with a few fellow schoolmates as we speak," Zhong Yuhuan said in a low voice.

"I'll let Secretary Cheng speak to you."

"Eh?" Zhong Yuhuan paused for a second before she responded, "Sure."

The phone exchanged hands, and the brief silence was quickly followed by Secretary Cheng's voice from the other end, "Hi, Miss Zhong. How have you been?"

"I am fine. Thank you for asking, Secretary Cheng."

Secretary Cheng cut to the chase after the simple exchange of pleasantries. "There is something that I will need to inform Miss Zhong."

"Yeah? Go ahead."

"Something happened at the Zhong's recently. Nothing too serious though. Ms. Xu's son had a fight in school and caused some publicity. It so happened that the Nan's was throwing a banquet the very next day. The Zhong's attended the banquet, and there was a female actress that didn't know who Ms. Xu was. She flirted with Mr. Zhong right in front of her. Ms. Xu didn't cause a scene at the time so that page was turned over. But a few days later, the actress ran into some issues. Her resources were taken away from her, so she turned to Mr. Zhong for help." Secretary Cheng paused for a second before he continued, "That was pretty much it."

He didn't need to go into too much detail. All she needed to know was that the pressure has been on for Xu Yunhui and that Ms. Xu and her daughter would not be able to overlook it.

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "Okay, Secretary Cheng, I got it. Thank you."

Secretary Cheng responded in a low voice, "No problem, Miss Zhong. You should thank Mr. Lang."

Chapter 102 – Camping Trip (3)

Zhong Yuhuan said, "Please give the phone back to my cousin."

Before long, the phone switched hands again.

"Hello?"

"Cousin, thank you so much," Zhong Yuhuan said in a low voice.

Lang Jinzhi was a little bit surprised. He didn't think she'd thank him officially for this.

But Zhong Yuhuan's tone changed right away as she said in a quiet voice, "Everything is going so smoothly. I need to work hard to finish my course sooner too. And… is your ink almost out, cousin?"

Hearing her relaxed and cheerful voice like they were just casually chitchatting, Lang Jinzhi also relaxed on the other end of the phone, "Yes, more or less."

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"Okay. Cousin, just wait at home! I will take care of all your ink needs from now on!"

Ink wasn't something expensive, but it's something necessary in one's daily life.

Especially for someone like Lang Jinzhi, who wrote and signed with it every day.

It wasn't a big deal that Zhong Yuhuan would take care of this small detail of his life, but it gave him a different feeling. It made him feel that someone cared about him and wanted to get close to him through the tiniest detail in life.

Lang Jinzhi softened up without him knowing it himself and said in a low voice, "Okay, I will wait for it then."

"Okay, I am hanging up now. Work hard and take care!"

"Mmm, okay. You too… enjoy yourself!"

Zhong Yuhuan was the first to hang up the phone.

Maria said from one side, "Dear, your voice is so nice. It's sweet like it's been coated in honey. Are all girls in China like that? Oh, I can't wait to visit China with you…"

On the other hand of the phone.

Lang Jinzhi, hearing the dial tone from the other end, paused for a second before he put away his cellphone.

He felt that he only talked to her occasionally, but he seemed to be too cold on the phone.

But, he didn't know how to sound closer to her and show that he cared about her.

All things considered, he seemed to be the one who wasn't giving as much.

"Sir?" Secretary Cheng asked.

Lang Jinzhi recollected himself and asked, "What's next on our itinerary?"

"You need to make a trip to Qiu County, and we need to leave now."

"Okay, let's head out."

Zhong Yuhuan finished chatting with Maria and suddenly felt like the lake wasn't so special after all. She stood up and happily walked over to the two boys that were setting up the tent. She rolled up her wide sleeves, showing off her pale arms, and said, "Let me help you with this!"

As soon as she said that, everybody else rushed over and said, "Heloise, be careful, let me help."

Zhong Yuhuan straight up blinked at Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming before she gestured for them to follow her.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming instinctively put down what they have been working on and walked over to her.

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "They are better at this anyway. We will just have them do it."

"Cousin just gave me a call," Zhong Yuhuan said and immediately got the attention of the two boys.

The boys still had their sleeves rolled up, and one could see their muscular arms.

Zhong Yuhuan took a peek and thought to herself, that's why they always say kids grow up fast. They were now both muscular men.

"What did cousin say?" Li Jinyuan asked quickly.

"The gist of it was that we don't have much time and should go back home in the next couple of years." Zhong Yuhuan blinked at them and said, "We need to get crackin'."

The two boys smiled casually at her and said, "Okay, we will go back together in a couple of years."

Zhong Yuhuan was certain that they were already leaps and bounds in front of others their age and had already started on the path that they wanted to go down.

Chapter 103 – Setting An Example (1)

The tent that they had set up was humongous and could fit up to 4-5 individuals.

Other people had the idea to crash in Zhong Yuhuan's tent, but after checking out Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan over and again, these people figured it was in their best interest to back off. Never mind that they didn't look weak at all, just the thought of Chinese martial art was intimidating enough.

Which was why the rest of them squeezed into the remaining tents.

So, this tent only had the three of them.

That was perfect.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't like sharing living quarters with those she was not familiar with; it would make her feel very insecure.

After the tents had been set, they moved onto barbequing by the lake. There was red wine, beer, and also bread, desserts, and salad.

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As everybody was very similar in age and very compatible, the atmosphere was very lively.

Maria put down the wine in her hand and said, "Let's play the King's Game!"

"Yes! Yes! Let's play!" Others chimed in right away.

Zhong Yuhuan turned and looked at Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan and asked, "Do you know how to play?"

Back in China, whenever everybody got together, they'd mostly play pool, swimming, or surfing. Sometimes, they play video games or fence.

Zhong Yuhuan avoided drinking games intentionally. She didn't want them negatively impacted by being exposed to these too early in life.

But, drinking at this age was normal here and, naturally, there were a wider range of games and activities when they drink.

Come to think about it, Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan were already at the appropriate age. Which was why Zhong Yuhuan felt that it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to join in.

"Yes," replied Li Jinyuan.

Zhong Yuhuan gave him a surprised look.

A little nervous, Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "I have played it before with Wei-ge and the lot."

That made sense.

Li Jinyuan had already entered into the modeling world and been around many adults. This should not surprise her.

Zhong Yuhuan turned to Huo Chengming and asked, "How about you, Chengming-gege?"

Huo Chengming looked a little emotional, "No."

His voice attracted the attention of Li Jinyuan, who gave him a look. Li Jinyuan curved up his lips a little. A hint of a smile flashed through his eyes.

Zhong Yuhuan nodded and said, "Maria, tell us the rules."

Maria turned around happily and said, "Not a problem!"

There were around 20 or so people there. After counting out the exact number, she pulled out an equal number of cards, shuffled them, and separated them into two piles.

"The stack on the left is the draw pile; the one on the right only has 1 card, with the number of the person who had the King's card. Only the king can remove the card on the right. The king can then ask any two numbered individuals to do anything…" As she was talking, she shuffled the cards again and restacked them, "Okay, now draw."

Zhong Yuhuan turned and looked at Huo Chengming, "You get it now, Chengming-gege?"

"Yes, I get it now," said Huo Chengming in a low voice.

Zhong Yuhuan smiled. She was the first who pulled out a card.

Huo Chengming followed suit immediately.

One after another, the rest of the group drew as well.

A lot of them secretly glanced at Zhong Yuhuan and Maria after they had drawn their cards.

After all, they were the two most popular girls among them.

"Who has the King's card?" asked Maria.

"I do," said Li Jinyuan softly.

Surprised, Maria said, "You are so lucky, Li!"

Li Jinyuan took the card on the right but did not look at the number on it.

Chapter 104 – Setting An Example (2)

He randomly picked some numbers, "No. 8 and No. 3, hold hands and walk around the tree three times."

Maria shook her head, "Li, that's too simple. What's the fun in that?"

Li Jinyuan was determined. "That's how I wanted it."

Zhong Yuhuan was participating in the game as well. He didn't want to accidentally order her to do anything strange.

Maria couldn't say much more, "Alright, who's No. 8?"

Zhong Yuhuan raised her hand quietly, "I am."

"Who's No. 3?"

Langdon stood up nervously, "I am."

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Had he known… why did he say anything about holding hands? Or circling a tree?

Li Jinyuan suddenly tossed away the King's card in his hand and stood up. He smiled and said, "I'll be the tree."

Langdon, "…"

Maria clapped her hands right away and laughed out loud, "Good, good! I like that!"

Others chimed in as well, "Yeah! What's the fun in circling a tree? I like it that way too!"

Li Jinyuan gave Langdon a look, still having that smile on his face and said, "C'mon."

Langdon walked in front of Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, didn't feel any awkwardness at all. She casually took Langdon's hand in hers and said, "Just three circles was all." And started walking around Li Jinyuan.

Li Jinyuan had been getting taller and taller; otherwise, he would not be walking on the stage.

As he was significantly taller than Langdon, he did look sort of like a tree when he stood there.

Langdon might be outgoing, but he wasn't that bold.

He forced himself to walk around Li Jinyuan once with Zhong Yuhuan and thought to himself that he'd rather be circling a real tree.

He couldn't help but grumble to himself.

He now knew that Li Jinyuan was Zhong Yuhuan's young brother, but why was he acting like he was her father?

Li Jinyuan maintained his smile as he stared at Langdon, all the way until the three circles were over.

When they all returned to their own spot, Langdon's back was already drenched from his sweat.

Langdon had no idea why he felt so much stress, but when Li Jinyuan was staring at him, he felt extremely intimidated….

They played 2-3 more rounds after that. Neither Zhong Yuhuan, Li Jinyuan, and Huo Chengming were picked, nor did they draw the King's card. The others who drew the card ordered for "pick someone up and run to the tree", "hot kiss in public", "climb up a tree and a make monkey sound", "remove each other's clothes"…

In comparison, Li Jinyuan's request was on the much milder side.

This lasted until Zhong Yuhuan drew the King's card.

Smiling, she said, "No. 4 and No. 5, take you clothes off and shout 'For the tribe!'"

Maria chuckled, "Does that mean they need to fight each other too?"

"Okay, we can throw in a fight," nodded Zhong Yuhuan.

"Who's No. 4? Who's No. 5?"

They looked around.

Finally, Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming stood up.

Zhong Yuhuan almost choked on the water from the glass in her hand.

She didn't know what to think of that.

Why did it have to be them?

How did she end up digging a hole for them?

She opened her mouth slightly and tried to think of something to get them out of it.

Chapter 105 – Setting An Example (3)

The two young men looked at each other and swiftly took off their sweaters. They had nothing underneath, so once those were off, they were bare chested.

Some girls started to whistle.

The boys cheered.

They still have their pants on. The belts around their waists made them seemed even skinnier.

The young men's backs were straight, and the muscles on their backs could be seen bulging up slightly and curving into their shapely backs. They looked wider from their back.

Then, they turned around.

Below their tensed jaws were their exposed necks, chests, and the mermaid lines on both sides of their bodies, extending all the way into their pants.

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In comparison, Li Jinyuan seemed paler and Huo Chengming was a shade darker than him.

Li Jinyuan looked like an elegant and classy prince and Huo Chengming looked more like a vicious and strong knight.

Maria exclaimed, "Chinese people are so beautiful!"

When the pretty faces, strong bodies, and their unique aura all blended together, their most attractive sides would come out.

Some people couldn't resist but shout out their names loudly.

The two young men didn't seem to care whether they'd look silly. They followed Zhong Yuhuan's request and shouted out loudly, "For the tribe!"

Then, they've charged at each other.

They've had fencing lessons, free combat lessons, and even a little bit of boxing.

"Whoosh!" was the sound stirred up in the air.

The two boys tightly gripped onto each other's shoulder like two vicious wolves.

An adult man's aura exuded from the both of them.

A punch of the fist, a sweep of the leg.

Every motion of theirs looked very deadly.

Zhong Yuhuan's heart almost leapt out of her mouth as she watched on. She couldn't help but frown slightly and somewhat regretted that she had made such a silly request. She never thought it'd happened to be them, and they were so serious in the way that they were fighting.

"Okay! Alright! That's enough!" shouted Zhong Yuhuan to put a stop to it.

Everybody else's eyes were beaming, "That was incredible, Heloise. Your older brothers are so incredible!"

Zhong Yuhuan didn't correct them that one was her older brother and the other one was her younger brother. She picked up their sweaters and tossed them to Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan.

"Were you guys hurt?" asked Zhong Yuhuan unhappily.

"No," said Huo Chengming.

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "It was all for show. It might look powerful, but it doesn't really hurt."

They were speaking in Chinese so the rest of them had no idea what they were talking about. They just kept looking in their direction. Their eyes were filled with marvel and also fear.

"Really?" asked Zhong Yuhuan in disbelief as she looked over at Huo Chengming.

"Really," said Huo Chengming with emphasis.

Finally, Zhong Yuhuan felt better.

And Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming, standing where Zhong Yuhuan couldn't see, exchanged a look with each other before looking around at the others, particularly Langdon, Joseph, and the others who had written Christmas cards to Zhong Yuhuan and professed their feelings for her.

Langdon was visibly nervous.

Joseph fared slightly better.

The rest were more severe. After they have given Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming a look, they gulped and their looks were that of respect and fear.

Even now, they could still recall and felt as though they had been punched by them with fierce force.

Heloise's older brothers were already vicious when they were play fighting.

How'd they stand a chance in a real fight?

Thinking of that, they gulped again.

None of these looks had escaped Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming.

Very good. Thought the both of them.

That way… none of them would be stupid enough to try to get close to Huanhuan when they were not around.

Author's rambling:

Li Jinyuan & Huo Chengming: That was setting an example. They beat each other up to show up these little b*stards.

They were both manipulative.

Chapter 106 – Does It Upset You When We Meddle In Your Relationships? (1)

It started snowing the second day after they arrived at the campsite.

Maria said excitedly, "There's a skiing spot close by. In a couple of days' time, the lake would freeze over and we will be able to go play there!"

Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, has been so cold that she wanted neither to ski nor skate.

She had returned the jackets back to both Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan. Wrapped in a blanket and covered up from head to toe, she walked out of the tent.

A French boy, seeing Zhong Yuhuan walking out with the blanket around her, walked toward her excitedly. But he didn't get too far before he saw Li Jinyuan walking out.

The French boy, knowing better, paused, made a turn immediately, and walked in a different direction.

Zhong Yuhuan felt a little perturbed. She turned around and asked, "Do I look particularly ugly like this?"

Ugly?

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Li Jinyuan looked at her.

Her hair was not tied up yet. The blanket she had wrapped around herself covered up her entire body, and the small strands of hair by the side of her cheeks were slightly unruly. She looked so petite.

If he stretched his arms and wrapped them around her, he would be able to encircle her entire body.

Not only was she not ugly, she looked particularly attractive right now.

Her entire body was soft and pretty, making one wanted to cupped her in the center of their palms.

"No, not ugly," said Li Jinyuan in a soft voice.

Zhong Yuhuan was even more perturbed, "Then why did he run away from me?"

"It was so cold he lost his mind," said Li Jinyuan casually.

"Aren't you going to join them?" asked Zhong Yuhuan as she pointed at the direction of the others. They have brought their own skiing equipment and was about to walk halfway up the mountain.

Li Jinyuan frowned a little and said, "It is even colder higher up in the mountain. If the weather drops more, there's no guarantee that we will be able to make it back here."

Zhong Yuhuan thought what he said made sense. She turned, looked inside the tent, and saw Huo Chengming sitting in front of the small table. His head was resting on his arm, and his back was arched. He was still asleep from exhaustion.

"Are you guys going to play some more?" asked Zhong Yuhuan.

Li Jinyuan shook his head, "No, we are fine."

It was never their intention to come here for fun.

"Then let's pack up and head home?" said Zhong Yuhuan as she couldn't resist taking another look in Huo Chengming's direction. If he was so tired, he didn't need to force himself to come camping with her.

"Mmm, okay," smiled Li Jinyuan. "Let's go home."

Li Jinyuan walked back inside to pack up and Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, walked over to Huo Chengming and woke him up.

Huo Chengming rubbed his temple and asked in a deep voice, "How long have I been asleep?"

"Not too long. Just sleep in the car in a little bit."

Huo Chengming's scrunched up face finally relaxed.

Zhong Yuhuan frowned.

Li Jinyuan walked over and said, "I've already given Wei-ge a call and the driver will be here to pick us up shortly."

Huo Chengming looked at Zhong Yuhuan, "We are going back already? Huanhuan doesn't want to stay any longer?"

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head and said, "Nothing new about camping. Plus, it looks like it's going to get even colder. Let's just head back. School will be starting in a few days."

Huo Chengming nodded.

The only reason that he came here was to check out who was Langdon, who was Joseph, who was Maria, etc. etc…. Now that he had met them all, there was no other reasons keeping him here. He was no longer the same childish Huo Chengming. Activities such as camping, games, skiing, or skating were nothing new to him. Naturally, they would no longer able to keep his interest.

The three of them had finished packing up and moving their suitcases and backpacks out of the tent when Maria happened to come looking for them.

"You are not going skiing?" asked Maria with a regretful look.

"No, I don't think so. It's so cold," said Zhong Yuhuan as she pulled the blanket around herself even tighter. She felt that the blanket worked much better than Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan's jackets.

Chapter 107 – Does It Upset You When We Meddle In Your Relationships? (2)

Maria looked at Zhong Yuhuan's little face and saw that her cheeks were slightly pale. She felt bad for her and couldn't say anything else.

"Okay, next time we go somewhere by the farm. When summer comes, we will take you to go pick fruits and squeeze milk," said Maria in resignation.

"Okay, you guys enjoy your skiing. Bye for now," said Zhong Yuhuan as she waved goodbye to her.

Maria, on the other hand, blew a kiss at her before she turned and walked away.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming's face immediately changed colors.

Especially Huo Chengming, his face darkened immediately.

Back at the Zhongs, they wished to leave the country with Zhong Yuhuan. Then it would be just the three of them, living together and taking care of each other. Now that they were here, they suddenly thought that returning back to their home country might not be a bad choice after all. At least, there wouldn't be so many passionate individuals who'd be showing their fondness toward Zhong Yuhuan anywhere, any time.

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The number of people in the basecamp continued to decrease as more and more of them headed into the mountain.

Soon the surrounding area was quiet with the exception of the rustling sound of the leaves.

Zhong Yuhuan cocked her head and looked at Li Jinyuan, then at Huo Chengming before she asked in a low voice, "Are you guys especially worried that I will be unhappy?"

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming were both stunned a little; neither one of them had expected that question from her.

Huo Chengming didn't say a word.

Li Jinyuan studied Zhong Yuhuan's look quickly before he replied, "Of course we want you to be happy, always. We thought that since we first arrived at the Zhong's."

"Honestly, if you are very tired, you don't need to particularly participate in any activities for me. I won't be unhappy because of that," said Zhong Yuhuan finally after thinking about what to say for a little bit.

"Alright," smiled Li Jinyuan. "I will keep that in mind."

Li Jinyuan's smile was too deceiving; Zhong Yuhuan couldn't tell how much he meant that.

Zhong Yuhuan then looked over at Huo Chengming, but he still didn't make a sound.

And then, the car arrived.

After the car was parked, the chauffeur stepped out to help them load their luggage. After they finished loading the car, they began their trip back.

Zhong Yuhuan was the first to get inside the car and took the last row of seats. Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming got in one after the other and took the second row. The car started after Li Jinyuan exchanged a few words with the chauffeur.

Wrapped in her little blanket, the temperature was perfect, Zhong Yuhuan closed her eyes and took another nap.

When she woke up, they were only 30 minutes into their trip. Li Jinyuan had fallen asleep on his seat. Huo Chengming, on the other hand, was still awake. His head was lowered ,and he was replying to something on his phone.

Zhong Yuhuan sat up slowly and poked Huo Chengming on his back with a finger. Huo Chengming froze for a second before he whipped his head around and asked, "You woke up?" His kept his voice very low. It was a special of attractiveness.

Zhong Yuhuan nodded. Leaning over the back of his seat, she asked him softly, "Chengming-gege, how come you didn't answer my question earlier?"

Huo Chengming kept his head lowered, "What question?"

Zhong Yuhuan poked him again and said, "Why are you like that?"

Huo Chengming paused for a little and answered the question with another question, "Like how?"

Zhong Yuhuan studied him briefly. Not wanting to hurt his feelings, she softly said, "Well, you know, always so serious. But that wasn't my point. You didn't… answer my question earlier."

Huo Chengming turned off his cellphone, tilted his head a little, and said in a low voice, "I want to."

"Huh?" Now it was Zhong Yuhuan's turn to be surprised.

"Doing things with you. I do that because I want to," said Huo Chengming in a deep voice while exuding an air of I-am-just-going-to-do-what-I-want.

Zhong Yuhuan was a little surprised by his reply.

Chapter 108 – Does It Upset You When We Meddle In Your Relationships? (3)

Huo Chengming asked suddenly, "Are you upset that Li Jinyuan and I interfere with your relationships?"

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head a little blankly, "No, I won't get upset over that. As I have said before, I truly see you two as my family. So, this falls under the category of special rights of families. You are my brother, of course you care about me and would meddle in my businesses."

Huo Chengming replied in a low voice, "Mmm."

Huo Chengming had thought about this previously back when they were opening up the Christmas cards.

Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you're reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.

No, even earlier than that. Shortly after they had arrived at the Zhong's and found out that her mother had already betrothed her to another boy verbally before she passed away. He had a very strong sense of resentment when that so-called Young Master Nan showed up in front of them. That was possessiveness.

Huo Chengming didn't want to be like that, but he couldn't control the way he felt.

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Back when he was at the Welfare Service, he already learned this one thing.

Whatever you need, you must fight for it on your own and hang on to it. Let it be clothing, food, or an opportunity to be adopted. You would not get any sympathy if you couldn't hold on to it on your own. Everybody there was equally pitiful, and nobody has the extra compassion to share with others.

What he could hang on too was too little.

But at the very minimum, he wanted to hang onto Zhong Yuhuan.

Even though he could hang onto more and more things as time went on, this possessiveness was carved into his bones, into his instinct.

He still wanted to keep her within his circle. It would provide him with the greatest amount of satisfaction and peacefulness.

Huo Chengming recollected himself, looked back, and asked in a low voice, "Are you going to sleep some more?"

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head, "No. I've slept too much already and couldn't sleep anymore. You should get some more sleep. You have been too tired."

"I am not tired." Huo Chengming turned his cellphone back on and said, "I'll play games with you."

Zhong Yuhuan rolled off her seat and sort of squatted behind Huo Chengming's seat. She reached out, covered his eyes with her hands, and said, "Okay, from this point forward, classmate Huo can only keep his eyes closed. He is not allowed to open his eyes anymore."

Having said that, she pulled the little blanket off of herself and placed it over Huo Chengming, "I'll let you borrow it for the time being. You wrap yourself up with it."

Resigned, Huo Chengming wrapped himself up in the blanket and said, "Okay, I've closed my eyes. You can let go now."

It was a little bit of an awkward position so Zhong Yuhuan obediently took her arms back.

"Sleep."

"Mmm."

The inside of the car returned to its original silence.

Zhong Yuhuan finally collapsed back onto the seat and started playing single-player games on her cellphone.

In the left seat of the second row, Li Jinyuan slowly opened his eyes. But he merely took at look at the ceiling of the car before he closed his eyes again.

He also wanted to know whether Zhong Yuhuan would get upset when Huo Chengming and him meddled with her relationships.

But he didn't ask out loud.

It was his personality to hide all questions and truth deep down inside.

He would not dare say it out loud unless he has 100% confident in it.

The Li Jinyuan in the past was the Li Jinyuan who had nothing.

But the Li Jinyuan who had left the Welfare Services was a Li Jinyuan who had regained something that he could rely on, which made him became even more cautious.

He wanted to be nice to her. And he also wanted to keep her close for longer with the niceness that he has to offer. As for how long he could do that for? He couldn't answer that question either.

Li Jinyuan blankly thought; at the very minimum, he would be able to keep this home going on for longer, and nobody would be able to come and take Zhong Yuhuan away from him.

Chapter 109 – Waiting for Xu Yunhui to take action (1)

School started again shortly after Christmas.

Overseas, a school year is broken up into three semesters. There wasn't a lot of time in between each of them, but there were extra holidays within each semester. So, all in all, it wasn't too tiring.

Zhong Yuhuan and the other two pretty much spent the entire holiday break lazing around their house.

When they were not eating and drinking, they were sleeping or playing video games and relaxing.

When the holidays were over, Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming first sent Zhong Yuhuan back to school and only after making sure she had arrived back at her dormitory safely did they headed their own ways.

After the holidays, Zhong Yuhuan adjusted herself back to school mode quickly.

Everybody's daily lives became even busier with the start of the new semester. Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming had been quite successful in conveying their intentions. Now the entire school was aware that Zhong Yuhuan had two very mean and can-kill-a-person-with-one-swing brothers.

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Zhong Yuhuan didn't forget the ink for her cousin. She had them ready a while back and had Chen Mingye bring it back to him.

News about the Zhong's came in occasionally, but Zhong Yuhuan never paid it too much attention and didn't care much about them. All in all, everything has been progressing down the path that she had planned out, so she didn't need to spend too much time worrying about it.

By the time Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming got their England driver's licenses, Zhong Yuhuan had already completed her high school early and started receiving offers from universities.

Zhong Yuhuan knew very well what she wanted in life, so she wouldn't learn everything in the order that was laid out in front of her. Instead, she'd learn what she needed in the shortest time possible.

In her previous life, Zhong Yuhuan's academic achievement was slightly above average. This time, even with more experience under her belt, it still didn't turn her into a genius overnight. She planned on studying financial management. Just like what she had told Yang Sem and the lot in the past, once she took over the Zhong's empire, she did not wish to be fooled by her managers without even knowing that she was being fooled.

Yet there were just a handful of universities in the world that specialized in this field. Zhong Yuhuan decided to take a step back and accepted the offer from Sydney University.

Sydney was the finance and trade center of the southern hemisphere.

Zhong Yuhuan was already quite pleased about it. After all, what she wanted to do in the future was not spending her entire life at work. Continuously working hard to bring in more money was simply too tiring.

The biggest issue with choosing this university was that Zhong Yuhuan needed to move to a new place. And, both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming were tied up at the moment and couldn't leave with her.

The days after graduation, Langdon, Joseph, and Maria, etc. threw a going away party for Zhong Yuhuan.

When that was over, Chen Mingye came to pick her up personally.

Zhong Yuhuan had not shared that bit of information with Chloe. She didn't want words to travel back too quickly; that would alarm Xu Yunhui. She needed Xu Yunhui to have this deeply-rooted idea that once she was able to get Zhong Yuhuan out of the country, she would no longer be able to fight over the inheritance with her. After all, in most mistresses' minds, girls could not take over the family business, only boys can, which was why they all tried very hard to have boys.

Chapter 110 – Waiting for Xu Yunhui to take action (2)

Both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming were already waiting for her outside of the school.

Li Jinyuan was still in the tuxedo that he had on when he attended his event. He was very gentlemanly and looked more and more like a little prince.

Huo Chengming, on the other hand, hand on a grey windbreaker. He looked sharp and fierce at first glance but much more tender when one looked at him again.

Chen Mingye was leaning against the car door. When he saw Zhong Yuhuan walking out, he walked up to her immediately and said to her, resigned, "You are going so far away this time. Who is going to take care of you?"

Zhong Yuhuan's body had lengthened up and went from short and stubby to slender.

It was only that her smile still had a hint of childishness in it. "I can take care of myself already."

She had two years of high school back home, and then two more years overseas. She was already now 163 centimeters and 17 years old.

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Her progress would have been even more advanced had she not spent some time on waiting for Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming. Whether it was back home or overseas, as long as one has completed all the required classes and has enough background and status, skipping a few grades and choosing a school would never be a problem. With the backing of both the Zhong's and the Ding's, she would have even more colleges to pick from.

One's background and resources available to them made a big difference.

Others might also choose to study financial management and slave over it for four years, only to become a professional manager, or maybe upper management at a more decent company. Everything relied on them working their way one small step at a time and building on their experience. And then there were those who were like Zhong Yuhuan, they have been immersed in that world since childhood. They have a wide option of companies that they could choose to go to accrue their experience. Everyone and everything around them were from this circle, the network and resources that were available to them were immense.

Which meant, Zhong Yuhuan could complete her programs in an even shorter amount of time.

People like Yang Sem, Han Yingying, or those over here such as Joseph, Maria, Chen Mingye… they would all become Zhong Yuhuan's network and resources.

One's foundation was built up gradually like this.

When Zhong Yuhuan returned home, Xu Yunhui wouldn't be able to just have her ways.

To put it bluntly, even if the Zhong's were to go bankrupt right now, Zhong Yuhuan would still be much better off than most.

After all this time, Zhong Yuhuan had noticed that this world was much closer to a real world than what was presented in a normal CEO novel. The details that were omitted in the original novel were filled in like how a real world would function.

Xu Yunhui, without the halo of a main character, didn't even stand a chance against her.

Thinking of that, Zhong Yuhuan's smile brightened up even more. She said, "Don't worry, Mr. Chen. If I can't even take care of myself at this age, how will I ever be able to live on my own?"

Chen Mingye patted the car door and said, "Get in. I will go with you, help you settle down, dine with you, then I will take off."

"That's too much trouble for you."

Chapter 111 – Waiting for Xu Yunhui to take action (3)

"No trouble," said Chen Mingye. "If I don't take you there and help you settle down, your cousin just might kill me. That wouldn't make sense anyway. C'mon, c'mon, hop on in, okay? I have some free time lately, it's no trouble."

Huo Chengming opened up the car door first and got inside before he reached his hand out to Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan took his hand and obediently climbed into the car.

She was followed by Li Jinyuan.

Chen Mingye was in charge of purchasing the tickets.

As though he was babysitting, he took them to Sydney. The hotel was already arranged in advance. They headed straight over to the hotel to rest up as soon as they got off the plane. After one night's rest, they went out to lunch.

"I have a few buddies in Sydney as well," said Chen Mingye over the dining table as he started flipping through his contact list, "Let me give them a call."

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Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about that. We have a buddy called Yang Sem that we used to hang out with back home. His sister also studies in Sydney."

"She's still in school? Then she's still a child herself. That's not the same. What can a kid do?" As he was saying, Chen Mingye had already located the number and placed his call, "Just give me a minute."

Having spent so much time together, there were real feelings between them.

Chen Mingye had already been taking care of Zhong Yuhuan for a while now. Naturally, he truly cared about her. No matter how one looked at it, he should make sure she was in good hands.

Zhong Yuhuan's lips moved, but she didn't say anything after all.

Networking in this circle was propped up by relationships. And that's just not taking each other out to lunch, or playing a few games of golf together. Favors played a big role in it. Relationships built on favors were stronger and longer lasting.

Understanding that reasoning, Zhong Yuhuan decided to not say anymore.

Chen Mingye felt much better after he had placed the call and made all the arrangements.

"You can thank me formally after you have graduated college," said Chen Mingye with a smile. "I will be returning home in a few years as well. There just aren't enough businesses overseas to occupy my time."

Zhong Yuhuan nodded.

Chen Mingye smiled and said, "And maybe you would have taken over the Zhong's businesses by then."

Zhong Yuhuan smiled lightly, "Perhaps."

After lunch, Chen Mingye took the opportunity to visit his business friends in Sydney.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming, on the other hand, accompanied Zhong Yuhuan to look at the apartment that she had booked.

To save some hassle, Zhong Yuhuan chose to live in the school apartment and picked the most expensive one available. After the two young men helped her move her items into the apartment, the three of them went for a walk on campus.

"Li Jinyuan, don't you have a show tomorrow?"

"No rush," smiled Li Jinyuan.

Zhong Yuhuan looked at Huo Chengming, "What about you?"

"I am fine too."

Zhong Yuhuan thought about it for a moment and said to him, "I left the deed and the keys to our apartment in London inside the safety box. The passcode is my birthday. You can take it whenever."

Huo Chengming was a little stunned.

She was telling him that to him?

"I felt that you would need some start-up capital," said Zhong Yuhuan, winking at him.

Huo Chengming's cheeks slowly began to blush. He didn't realize that Zhong Yuhuan knew what he had been up to this entire time.

But she may not know all of it. Huo Chengming looked down to hide the darkness in his eyes and said in a deep voice, "There's no need for that. I have money."

"I know you have money, but you don't have enough. You know it as well as I, you can treat that as my investment."

"The deed for the apartment…"

"Oh, it was under my dad's name, but he transferred it over to me last year. After all, he was going to bring Xu Xing back as his son. He needed to give me something to pacify me."

Chapter 112 – Waiting for Xu Yunhui to take action (4)

With all that had been going on between him and his son, Zhong Chi would probably never grow to like him, but he was, after all, his son. Zhong Chi would still need to bring him back officially.

That was something that Xu Yunhui didn't know.

Naturally, Zhong Chi wouldn't be sharing that with Xu Yunhui either.

According to Zhong Yuhuan's calculation, now that she has possession of the apartment in London, on that side, Xu Yunhui wouldn't even be able to hold out till Zhong Chi took his son in before she would snap.

Xu Yunhui had been waiting and waiting, as she watched other women try to get close to Zhong Chi with the same mindset as her back in the days and wanted to become the new Mrs. Zhong. Xu Yunhui wouldn't be able to handle that, and neither would Xu Yushan.

At most another 2 – 3 years before they acted on it…

Zhong Yuhuan felt that she was in a pretty good spot right now.

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But Huo Chengming frowned deeply.

She had to sacrifice so much to get an apartment, and she turned around and gave it to him…

Huo Chengming clenched his fist and his face was dark.

Why did he want to pamper her?

Why was it that he was so frightened that she'd be hurt in any way?

Because she was the best gift to him.

What she had done for them had well exceeded the vastness of mountains and lakes.

Zhong Yuhuan turned and gave Li Jinyuan a hug, "Work hard, study hard. Keep at it, Li Jinyuan!"

Then she gave Huo Chengming a hug also and said, "And the same goes for you."

"I am going back to my dorm room. You two should get going," said Zhong Yuhuan as she waved at them.

Her hug lasted just a second, but it left behind a hint of aroma from some sort of fruit that lingered around their nose and wouldn't dissipate for a long, long time.

They recalled it now, she seemed to have had strawberries for breakfast that morning.

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan couldn't help but stare at her face.

She smiled. Even her lips looked like they were reddened by strawberry juice, glowing in a bright color that words could not describe.

"See you two during the holidays!"

"Okay, Huanhuan. See you during the holidays!" Li Jinyuan smiled at her and replied softly.

Huo Chengming clenched his fist and turned away without saying a word, as though one more look and he'd want to bring her with him and keep her nearby.

What Zhong Yuhuan didn't expect was the day she had been anticipated would come so quickly.

She had just finished her class for the day when she received a call from Lang Jinzhi, except it wasn't Lang Jinzhi on the other end of the call, but Secretary Cheng.

"Miss Zhong… something happened at home. You might want to make some time and take a trip back?"

"I'll return tomorrow."

The cellphone seemed to have been taken away by someone, then came Lang Jinzhi's voice, "Come to the Lang's first when you arrived."

"Okay."

Chapter 113 – This Must Be What It's Like To Have A Little Sister (1)

Zhong Yuhuan had just hung up Lang Jinzhi 's call when Chen Mingye's call came in.

"My buddy is going to pick you up. We will meet at the airport and go directly from Sydney," said Chen Mingye on the other end.

Zhong Yuhuan knew that the purpose of that was to avoid being detected by Xu Yunhui and her daughter.

"Okay," replied Zhong Yuhuan.

She immediately went to take some time off and packed her bags. She didn't need to bring a lot with her, just one suitcase's worth. But even so, she couldn't help but miss the days with Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming around. At least, she wouldn't have to pack her own suitcase when they were around.

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head to get rid of this unrelated thought.

She headed downstairs and got inside the car after she finished packing.

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Chen Mingye's buddy drove her to the airport and even helped her with checking into a hotel nearby.

"I'm afraid I need to take off now," said the man, seemingly a bit embarrassed by that.

"No, that's alright. That is fine. Thank you," said Zhong Yuhuan as she nodded at him.

It was probably Chen Mingye's credit card that was run through during the check-in, and some server brought over afternoon tea shortly.

Zhong Yuhuan browsed the news and WeChat from the VIP suite.

Whatever that had happened at the Zhong's was not yet in the news.

Which made sense, Xu Yunhui probably wouldn't be the one babbling about it.

That's why Yang Sen was still happily rambling on WeChat. He even asked Zhong Yuhuan, "Man Sen is having a concert soon. Do you want to go? I'll pay for your plane ticket and hotel fee. I guarantee it will be VIP service!"

Zhong Yuhuan smiled after she had read it and turned her cellphone off.

With the exception of those on Lang Jinzhi's side, she couldn't let anyone know that she was on her way home.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't let the hours of wait time go to waste. She read the PPT from school, a couple of academic published articles, followed by watching the recent financial news.

After she had done all that and snacked a little, Chen Mingye had already arrived.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't bring her luggage with her, but first went downstairs to greet him.

"Have you had dinner yet?" asked Chen Mingye.

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head.

"Alright, let's have dinner first before we board. I booked a redeye flight. We will go to sleep once we've boarded and will be landing when we wake up." Having said that, Chen Mingye paused and checked on Zhong Yuhuan carefully, "Are you not anxious?"

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and shook her head, "No, I am not anxious. Let's find something to eat."

Chen Mingye let out a sigh of relief. "That's good. I've heard that Mr. Zhong hasn't been very nice to you in the past, but I was still worried that you would be sad after hearing the news."

Having heard that, Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but notice the irony.

She wondered if Zhong Chi would regret it. He had always wanted to be the one in control. Would he still feel accomplished now?

Chen Mingye took Zhong Yuhuan to dinner. After making sure that Zhong Yuhuan was full, he went with her to pick up her luggage and headed to the airport.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen."

"No problem. Your cousin worried that something might happen to you. I needed to make a trip back anyway, so we might as well travel together. That way, we won't leave anything to chances." Chen Mingye smiled casually. He didn't think this was a big deal.

Chen Mingye said he would be with her "all the way", and that was exactly what he did.

When the plane had landed in City Hai, he took Zhong Yuhuan all the way to the Lang's before he took off.

That way, from the outside perspective, they'd think Chen Mingye took a trip back home and went over to visit Li Jinyuan for old time's sake. The two of them had always been close and that was known to everyone. Nobody would think this has anything to do with Zhong Yuhuan.

Chapter 114 -This Must Be What It's Like To Have A Little Sister (2)

The area that the Lang's resided in was built in ancient garden style.

The area that it took up was quite impressive within the high-end residential area.

Standing outside the front door, the servants who walked past all gave her surprising looks, probably having no idea who she was.

Zhong Yuhuan had never been to the Lang's before. Lang Jinzhi had invited her before she went overseas, but there was always one thing or another that had gotten in the way.

Right when Zhong Yuhuan was quietly checking out the house in front of her, she heard the surprised voice of a servant, "Young Master Lang is back already?"

Zhong Yuhuan turned her head and saw Lang Jinzhi getting out of the car along with Secretary Chang.

Obviously, Lang Jinzhi had just left his work and rushed back while she was on her way.

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"Cousin." Zhong Yuhuan turned and smiled at him.

Lang Jinzhi suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Even though Chen Mingye had already sent him a lot of Zhong Yuhuan's pictures when she was overseas, the pictures were never the same as the real person.

She has grown much taller and her features were that of an adult. She had on a warm orange dress, the hemline of the top was wide and looked like a blossoming flower.

She was blooming and immediately captured everyone's eyes at first glance.

The only thing that didn't change was her smile. When she smiled, her eyes seemed to be filled with stars, bright, sweet, and soft.

She made others naturally want to treat her nicely.

Lang Jinzhi didn't feel like he had missed her a lot during the time that she was gone. But now, when she was standing in front of him, all those emotions that had been missing suddenly filled his chest.

Lang Jinzhi opened his mouth, and finally all the emotions turned into one line, "How long have you been waiting here?"

"I just arrived." smiled Zhong Yuhuan. "How was the ink I sent?"

"They are fine."

"Good," said Zhong Yuhuan as she walked next to him.

Her closeness to him made Lang Jinzhi relax even more.

He even felt that he enjoyed her being close to him. It was something that he had never experienced before. At this moment, he realized how good it felt when his little cousin was close to him.

The servant walked up quickly and opened up the metal door before casting a cautious look in Zhong Yuhuan's direction as though she was worried that Zhong Yuhuan might be upset that they had overlooked her earlier.

Naturally, Zhong Yuhuan couldn't be bothered by that.

She focused on watching her steps while slowly walking inside with Lang Jinzhi.

Secretary Cheng followed behind them.

Lang Jinzhi asked in a low voice, "How's the new school?"

"Not bad. Except that I'd occasionally run into one or two not-so-friendly schoolmates," said Zhong Yuhuan with a slight frown.

"What kind of schoolmates?" asked Lang Jinzhi, speaking like a parent whose kid had just gone to school on the first day and wanted to know if she got along with her classmates.

"It's a big school with all kinds of students," Zhong Yuhuan did not elaborate on that.

Lang Jinzhi frowned slightly when he heard that but didn't pursue the subject.

He asked in a low voice again, "How about the food? Do you like the food over there?"

"Back in London, we'd always visit Chinese restaurants during the holidays. Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming would also make Chinese food for me occasionally. They were fast learners when it comes to cooking," sighed Zhong Yuhuan.

Lang Jinzhi nodded. He then thought about it for a little while and he seemed to… not know how to cook?

It was Zhong Yuhuan's turn to ask, "How about you, cousin? How's work?"

"Same 'ol, same 'ol."

"Don't work too hard now. I would like to be able to get together with you from time to time after I have moved back," said Zhong Yuhuan.

Lang Jinzhi paused for a second.

He had never thought about this before. In his life dictionary, the words "hang out" had never existed. His plans have always been work-related.

Come to think about it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to hang out with Zhong Yuhuan from time, right?

Lang Jinzhi turned and gave Secretary Cheng a look.

Secretary Cheng was a bit surprised but immediately said, "Yes, I'll rearrange your schedule."

Chapter 115 – This Must Be What It's Like To Have A Little Sister (3)

Some people were passive, others were proactive. And Lang Jinzhi was the type who'd proactively do the best at work. He had more responsibilities than most and was also able to complete them better than most people. That was the reason why he had moved up so quickly.

But it would also be fine should he decide to be more selective about work and lightened up his workload.

As they were chatting, they had already walked to the end of the stone path and got close to the main living room.

When Zhong Yuhuan looked up, she saw a middle-aged man standing underneath the eaves. The middle-aged man was clothed in a Zhongshan style coat, the hair above his temples were white, but he looked kind. Not too old, perhaps around 50 or so, not yet reached his retirement age. He stood there quietly, listening to their conversation.

When Zhong Yuhuan got closer, the middle-aged man asked, "This is the daughter of Second Young Miss Ding?" His tone was tender and kind.

Lang Jinzhi nodded and said, "Yes."

Zhong Yuhuan wasn't sure how to address the man.

She figured he must be Lang Jinzhi's father, but should she refer to him as Uncle? It has been a long while since the divorce.

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"C'mon in first," said Father Lang as he turned and walked into the living room.

Zhong Yuhuan tugged on Lang Jinzhi's sleeve, "What should I call him?"

Lang Jinzhi looked down at her fingers that were white like onions and said in a low voice, "Just call him what's appropriate."

"Uncle?"

"Yes."

Lang Jinzhi thought to himself this must be what it was like to have a little sister.

She would give him beautiful smiles and tug gently at his sleeves.

After they entered the living room, Zhong Yuhuan immediately smiled and greeted Father Lang once again.

When Father Lang heard "Uncle", he had a peculiar look on him for a quick instant but finally didn't comment on it. He had Zhong Yuhuan sit down first and the servant brought over tea shortly thereafter, in the lidded kind of tea cup.

"There aren't many in the house right now. It will be just the three of us having dinner together," said Father Lang.

Zhong Yuhuan nodded obediently.

"When do you plan on going home?" asked Father Lang.

Lang Jinzhi replied for her and said, "Perhaps after a little while. With what was going on at the Zhong's, Mrs. Xu wouldn't want her back right now."

Having heard that, Father Lang frowned quickly, but didn't comment on what kind of a person Zhong Chi was. It was probably because he wasn't the type of person who gossip about others behind their backs.

The servant was just about to take Zhong Yuhuan's luggage to the guest bedroom when Zhong Yuhuan suddenly said, "Oh, yeah, I have brought a gift for Uncle."

Zhong Yuhuan stood up, walked over, and bent down to produce a large gift box from a big bag. The gift box was nicely decorated. She handed it over to Father Lang with both hands. Father Lang quickly took it from her, smiled and said, "You shouldn't have."

It didn't need to be anything fancy, but whether they have brought something with them made a difference.

Especially for someone of their statuses.

It was always necessary to prepare gifts.

And, in fact, it wasn't anything very fancy.

After all, she was never that close with the Lang's before and haven't been interacting with each other on a regular basis. Had she brought with her something overly expensive, that would actually appear that she had other agendas.

Lang Jinzhi stared at the large gift box for a few seconds.

Suddenly, he realized how his grandfather must have felt that first time they all had dinner together at Yue Lan Mansion when Zhong Yuhuan gave him a gift after she had given one to their grandfather.

Chapter 116 – Go see if the Madam has anything to do with it (1)

The gift that Zhong Yuhuan had prepared for Father Lang was a cashmere scarf. It was easy to tell that it was of good quality, but it could only be so expensive even if she had gotten a top-of-the-line one.

Zhong Yuhuan had stayed to crash at the Lang's after dinner.

She was arranged to stay in the room that was close to Lang Jinzhi's. Since then, the servants at the Lang's were much more respectful toward her. They no longer looked down on her because her mother had died and she had been "exiled" overseas by her father.

Shortly after she had settled in, Lang Jinzhi came knocking on her door, along with him was Secretary Cheng.

Zhong Yuhuan let them inside her room and seated them.

Secretary Cheng, being a people person, didn't feel awkward at all and started saying in a low voice, "Mr. Zhong had a fall at the equestrian club last August and his patella (knee cap) was stepped on by a horse. He has yet to recover from that. Back then, Ms. Xu was partly being stubborn and also partly trying it out. She wanted to regain his favor toward her from taking good care of him.

Towards the end of last year and Xu Xing's birthday, Mr. Zhong had sent out invitations to his birthday party, and there were rumors in the circle that Mr. Zhong was getting ready to officially recognize Xu Xing as his son. But the birthday party was cancelled later on. And this year, Mr. Zhong's health started to deteriorate…

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All the way up to last month, Mr. Zhong suddenly passed out and was sent to the hospital. Trace amount of arsenic was found in him and his family doctor had already disappeared."

Upon hearing that, Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but sigh. She said, "And here I thought she would have better tricks up her sleeves."

Was Xu Yunhui vicious? She didn't kill Zhong Chi after all. Was Xu Yunhui not vicious? But she did plot against the man whom she had shared the same bed with for so many years.

One way or another, it was none of her business.

All Zhong Yuhuan felt was a shred of sadness for the original owner.

She wondered if Zhong Chi would regret now that he didn't treat Ding Ruxue and her daughter better than he did.

Secretary Cheng stopped and looked at Zhong Yuhuan carefully. He seemed to worry that the news would have upset her.

"How is he doing now?" asked Zhong Yuhuan.

"Still being monitored in ICU. They are still working on getting the arsenic out of his system."

Arsenic trioxide compound would cause multiple organ failure in a human's body.

But if it was treated on time, it would only cause irreversible damage to the body without being fatal.

"Let's give it a couple more days. I'll go visit him later. Right now we need to wait for Xu Yunhui to expose themselves." How else would Zhong Chi be willing to transfer over to her what she was after?

"Alright," nodded Lang Jinzhi.

"I'll have to continue to trouble cousin to keep on monitoring the situation."

"No trouble at all," said Lang Jinzhi. Then, after a slight pause and somewhat out of character, he added, "You should get some more rest the next couple of days.

It was starting to get dark outside. Secretary Cheng needed to go home and it'd be scandalous for Lang Jinzhi to continue staying in her room, even if he was her cousin.

Lang Jinzhi and Secretary Cheng walked out together, closing her door behind them.

Zhong Yuhuan collapsed on the couch and the weariness took over her suddenly.

As soon as she crumbled onto the bed, her cellphone rang. Zhong Yuhuan grabbed her phone and was a little surprised by the name on the caller ID – Huo Chengming.

"Hello?" said Zhong Yuhuan as she picked up the phone.

"You are not at school?" asked Huo Chengming from the other end.

"Eh. Something came up so I took some time off."

"Something happened?" asked Huo Chengming, his tone became nervous immediately.

"I am fine. Something happened back home so I came back with Mr. Chen. You and Li Jinyuan seemed to be very busy so I didn't mention it to you too. It won't take long to take care of the matters here anyway!" Zhang Yuhuan tried to make her tone sound light hearted so Huo Chengming could stop worrying about her.

Chapter 117 – Go see if the Madam has anything to do with it (2)

"I am outside of your school right now," said Huo Chengming all of a sudden.

Zhong Yuhuan was stunned a little and said, "How come you visited my school all of a sudden?" Having said that, she thought she knew why. Huo Chengming must have learned some tricks about surprise visits somewhere and wanted to pleasantly surprise her at her school.

"We came to visit," said Huo Chengming, then he added in a dulled voice, "Li Jinyuan is here with me as well."

Zhong Yuhuan didn't know what to say to that. "You are both outside of my school right now?"

"Mm."

"Welp. Guess you will just have to return to where you came from," said Zhong Yuhuan innocently.

"Mm."

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He sounded blue over the phone so Zhong Yuhuan asked, "What do you like me to bring back for the two of you on my way back?"

"There's no need," said Huo Chengming, his tone much more relieved than earlier.

It looked like all she had to do to appease him was to say she'd buy him stuff.

Each of them was getting easier to appease than the previous one!

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but sigh.

"It's getting late where you are… get some rest." As soon as Huo Chengming finished saying that, it seemed someone had ripped the cellphone from him.

"Get some rest, Huanhuan!" said Li Jinyuan from the other end.

Then she heard a bunch of muffled sounds, presumably the two of them were fighting over the cellphone again. Then she heard the dial tone.

The other end was so far away.

Li Jinyuan watched as Huo Chengming put away his cellphone and resigned to sighing, "Wei-geI's trick was problematic."

"We can try it again," said Huo Chengming.

"How?" asked Li Jinyuan, then he got it all of a sudden, "…. Go back too?"

"Mm."

The two young boys from way back when had already grown up into older boys and getting more and more like two adult men.

They now have their own capital. Never mind about traveling internationally, they could even travel the world if they so choose without blinking an eye.

Once they have made up their mind, they didn't even pack anything before they hurried to the airport and took the first flight back.

Back at the Lang's.

Zhong Yuhuan slept all the way to noon.

She sluggishly got up, got ready, and put on a clean dress. When she pulled open the door, she saw Lang Jinzhi's face immediately.

"I was just about to have you come down for lunch."

"You didn't go in to work today, cousin?" asked Zhong Yuhuan, surprised to see him there.

"I did. Just coming home quickly during lunch time." Lang Jinzhi paused for a little bit and asked, "How come you slept in so much?"

"Jet lag."

Lang Jinzhi was a very nice person, at least from Zhong Yuhuan's perspective.

Just like right now, she just had to soften up her tone and give him a good reason. And his look softened up immediately without any more reproach.

Zhong Yuhuan followed Lang Jinzhi to the dining room to have lunch.

They were the only ones in the dining room.

Zhong Yuhuan asked, "Uncle doesn't eat at home?"

"He's at work."

"What about the others?"

"Some are at school; some are traveling overseas for business; some are at work. Everybody is very busy," said Lang Jinzhi.

This was when she realized that the only reason Lang Jinzhi was there was because he made a special trip home from work. Was he worried that she would feel awkward being by herself?

Zhong Yuhuan smiled as she bit down on her chopsticks.

Her cousin seemed to be a very thoughtful person!

Lang Jinzhi ate lunch with Zhong Yuhuan quietly before he headed back to work. Left on her own, Zhong Yuhuan walked around Lang's and enjoyed the scenery in their garden.

Just as Zhong Yuhuan had guessed, Lang Jinzhi came home to have lunch with her every day for the next few days. He didn't do much, just had lunch with her before he took off again.

Zhong Yuhuan, too, enjoyed her rare down time and adapted quite well to her days at the Lang's.

Chapter 118 – Go see if the Madam has anything to do with it (3)

On the other hand, Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming had already arrived in City Hai. They checked into the hotel first before they asked around to see if there were any incidents in City Hai recently.

There wasn't much in terms of news except that Young Master Nan had finally graduated college and his family was preparing for his wedding again.

Could he be the reason?

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming exchanged a look; both of them looked cold.

A private hospital in City Hai.

Zhong Chi was finally transferred from ICU into a regular VIP room.

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He had regained his consciousness and learned that Xu Yunhui kept the words out of the media about him falling ill. Zhong Chi agreed with her decision for the sake of keeping their stock prices from plummeting.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Xu Yunhui and Xu Yushan on both sides of him, looking very worried.

Zhong Chi was a little touched when he saw that.

The contrast, naturally, made Zhong Yuhuan seem even more ungrateful.

Xu Yunhui helped Zhong Chi sit up and said tenderly, "Don't worry, Chi-ge. The doctor said it won't take you long to recover."

Xu Yushan, on the other hand, was starting to get impatient with all the pretending.

Someone happened to knock on the door at this moment. "Is Boss Zhong awake? I am Xiao Zhao."

"Oh, Assistant Zhao is here," smiled Xu Yunhui as she stood up. "Then Shanshan and I will excuse ourselves. We will let you two talk."

Zhong Chi, too, was eager to find out what had happened during this time so he just nodded, with no intention of asking them to stay.

Xu Yunhui's expression froze a little.

She had forgotten what kind of a person Zhong Chi was. As touched as Zhong Chi was, he wouldn't mix his personal feelings with work that needed his attention.

Xu Yunhui and Xu Yushan walked out of the room.

Assistant Zhao walked inside.

Assistant Zhao turned and looked at the room entrance before he looked back at Zhong Chi. He was startled by what he saw.

He hadn't expected Zhong Chi to have aged so much during such a short amount of time. His face was a waxy yellow with dark black circles under his eyes. His face was slightly swollen, making it look twisted.

He looked like an entirely different person!

Assistant Zhao stuttered a little and said, "Boss… Boss Zhong. We have been investigating. We have notified the police… when your family doctor disappeared. We suspect he was the one who did it."

Zhong Chi's face was dark and vicious. He gritted his teeth and said, "I have always been nice to him. We must find him so we can find out who ordered him to do that. I have been in business all these years. Who did I offend to a point that they wanted me dead?"

"Could it be… the Ding's?"

Zhong Chi shook his head and overturned that right away, "If Old Man Ding hated me that much he wanted me dead, he would have acted upon it a long time ago. Not to mention that Ding Qiuyue had been their head of household for a while now. She doesn't have the brain to do something like this."

Assistant Zhao sighed.

"Oh, yeah! I needed to let you know something else."

"Shoot."

"When you first fell ill, Madam had instructed us to not mention to anyone about your illness."

"Yes, I am aware of that."

"But later on, Miss called and said she wanted to talk to you. I gathered that Madam didn't give her any details so Miss called me instead."

Zhong Chi's face changed colors.

It was the right thing to do for the company to not mention his illness.

But what would be the reason to keep it from Zhong Yuhuan?

Zhong Chi never had any problems gauging others with the worst intent. He let out a breath lightly and said through gritted teeth, "She thought I was about to die? So her intention was to keep Zhong Yuhuan from coming back?"

Slowly, a peculiar idea crossed his mind.

He had never thought about it before, but once it had occurred to him, it started forming a clearer and clearer picture.

"Go… and investigate. I want to know if Madam has anything to do with this."

Chapter 119 – I am Huo Chengming (1)

They had never suspected Xu Yunhui in the past. Now that the seed had been sowed, it was plenty easy to start looking into her.

After all, the few years that Xu Yunhui had spent at the Zhong's really hadn't allowed her to become very powerful.

When the investigation report reached Zhong Chi, he was so angry that he yanked the IV right out of his arm and shouted angrily, "So that's it! I finally saw through her darker than viper heart! Lucky I never recognized Xu Xing! Had I done that, I would have been dead even sooner! She wished for her son to take over my spot immediately…"

Now that was Zhong Chi's misjudging Xu Yunhui.

With Xu Yunhui's personality, if he had recognized Xu Xing sooner, she wouldn't have done anything to him.

But Zhong Chi was gauging her by his own standard, so naturally he'd feel that her plan was to murder him!

Zhong Chi snickered and said, "She forgot that even though she is the official Mrs. Zhong right now, I could still squash her with one finger."

Assistant Zhao kept his head lowered and dared not say a thing.

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That was not something that he wanted to offer his opinion on; he was better off just keeping his mouth shut.

"Go and give Zhong Yuhuan a call."

"Yes, sir."

Zhong Chi said coldly, "This illness at least let me see clearly the true nature of those around me."

When Xu Yunhui went to the hospital the next day, she found another person in the room.

She was the actress whose resources had been taken away from her, and she was currently crying in front of Zhong Chi. This particular actress has the reputation of being pure and tender. All Xu Yunhui wanted to do was to call her bullsh*t. If she was so pure, why did she keep thrusting herself in front of Zhong Chi? Was there really anyone who was pure in their circle?

At this very moment, Xu Yunhui almost couldn't maintain the look on her face. She really wanted to leap onto the actress and rip her face off!

"Why is Miss Lin here?" Xu Yunhui turned and asked the bodyguard.

The bodyguard, who was in charge of guarding the patient room looked a little uneasy, said, "Miss Lin is here to visit Boss"

"Haven't I said it already? To not let anyone find out about his illness?"

"Miss Lin called a few times and Boss said she could come visit."

Xu Yunhui heard a buzzing noise in her head.

Zhong Chi had been very nice to her the last few days, almost like they were back to the days when they were in love before. Even when Zhong Chi was feeling so fragile, he asked a few times about how Xu Xing was doing at school and seemed to be genuinely concerned about it. Xu Yunhui almost thought that perhaps once this was over, Zhong Chi would be touched by how well she had been taking care of him and quickly recognize Xu Xing. That way she wouldn't need to take any more risk…. And no need to try and harm him again…

But now Xu Yunhui understood.

Once the gears started to turn, there was no turning back.

Just like once she had become Zhong Chi's girlfriend, she had already passed the point of no return by the time he married Madam. She had to follow through with it, unless Ding Ruxue was completely dead.

And now, once she walked down the path of setting up Zhong Chi, she couldn't stop anymore. If she stopped now, she didn't stand to gain anything from this, and neither would her son. Let alone that as long as Zhong Chi was alive, she ran the risks of being exposed.

She needed to follow through with her plans…

Xu Yunhui forced herself to calm down. Smiling tenderly, she said, "Oh, okay. Well, if that's the case, then I won't say anything else. I'll be back a little later."

Naturally, Zhong Chi caught the entire exchange.

Before he found out the truth, Zhong Chi had always been pleased with Xu Yunhui's humbleness and knowing her own place. But now that he was aware of the truth, her humbleness, tenderness, and poise all turned into a bone-chilling honey-coated dagger!

Chapter 120 – I am Huo Chengming (2)

"I couldn't believe she had been putting up with this front for so long and been so manipulative…" snickered Zhong Chi. "Prepare some money for Xu Yunhui. She can take the money and take care of Xu Yushan and Xu Xing seeing as how he's my son after all. She won't get much more from me. I am still in my prime. I can have more sons if I want. Xu Xing had never stepped up to the plate, I doubt he would accomplish much in the future anyway."

"Yes, sir," replied Assistant Zhao.

Zhong Chi asked again, "Anything back from Miss?"

"Miss answered the call and said she'd take the next flight back."

That was when Zhong Chi finally started looking better.

"She hated me a few years ago. I was aware of that. Her personality was not like mine, nor her mother. She had always been blunt and straightforward. She always exploded when she was unhappy. And when she was happy, she also wore her emotions on her sleeves. If she is going to rush back, that means she still thinks of me as her father." Thinking about that, Zhong Chi frowned, "That being said, her straightforwardness is much better than Xu Yunhui and her daughter's acting and fakeness. At least I know I wouldn't be stabbed from behind."

Assistant Zhao chuckled uncomfortably and said, "You are right."

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Zhong Yuhuan heard knocking on the door when she woke up.

She quickly opened the door and saw Lang Jinzhi and Secretary Cheng standing outside.

Lang Jinzhi was stunned a little when he saw her.

Zhong Yuhuan still had on her pink pajama. It had been bought by Secretary Cheng because she had forgotten to pack her pajamas. Lang Jinzhi frowned when he saw it at first. He couldn't appreciate that type of pajama.

But now that Zhong Yuhuan was wearing it; it exhibited completely different effects.

The pink pajama made her cheeks look even pink.

Her slender legs exposed under the hem made her look delicate and fragile.

Lang Jinzhi didn't even think about it before he quickly removed his suit jacket and put it over her. He then frowned and said, "How come you came and got the door in your pajamas?"

Zhong Yuhuan yawned sluggishly. Turning to walk back inside the room with the suit jacket over her, she said, "I didn't want to make cousin wait."

That finally shut Lang Jinzhi up.

After the three people were seated, Zhong Yuhuan poured out glasses of water, "New developments?"

Secretary Cheng nodded and said, "Yes, Ms. Xu will be doing it one more time, tomorrow morning."

"Oh, then I better head over soon," said Zhong Yuhuan as she stood up. "I need to go there tonight. Once it happened, she'd for sure try to barricade the hospital room, and I wouldn't be able to get inside."

"I'll go with you," said Lang Jinzhi immediately.

"Cousin has time?"

"I'll take tomorrow off."

"…. Are you sure?"

Lang Jinzhi looked into Zhong Yuhuan's eyes and remained silent for a little bit.

Was he sure?

….. Yes.

Even though this would be the first time he has taken a day off since he started school and then work.

But the words "take tomorrow off" just rolled out of his mouth, just like that.

Lang Jinzhi thought about it for a second.

It should be alright for him to take a day off… After all, he had never taken a day off before now.

"Okay, thanks, Cousin," said Zhong Yuhuan as she pulled the suit jacket off of herself and handed it over to Lang Jinzhi. "Let me go change real quick then we can head over shortly."

Lang Jinzhi paused for a second before he took his suit jacket back from her. He didn't put it back on. He just nodded and walked away with Secretary Cheng.

Zhong Yuhuan quickly put on a dress that looked very cheerful before she walked out with her purse.

As there were usually a lot at the dinner table at the Lang's, Lang Jinzhi thought about it for a little bit before giving Chen Mingye a call and having him come over as cover up when they all went out to dinner together.